The Stranger by Albert Camus

Faith didn’t work and science didn’t work. Now what?

P&C drink and review Pigweed’s homebrewed Russian Imperial Stout.

With special guest Longinus, P&C continue their “shortcut to the classics” series with a review of Albert Camus’ “The Stranger.”

What’s the message of the book? What can we learn from it today?

It’s considered an existentialist novel. What does that mean?

Was Meursault a psychopath? On the Asperger’s spectrum? What’s up with this strange fellow?

Free speech!

P&C drink and review an Octoberfest beer, then talk about restrictions on free speech.

The First Amendment limits the government’s ability to regulate speech. But can other people limit speech? And what speech is in view — only political speech, or all speech?

In the past, the government was a legit threat to free speech. Today, the woke mob, the spineless companies that bow to the woke mob, and the tech titans are the big dangers to free speech.

Is free speech a general value that we want reflected in all of society, or are we only worried about the government?

“You have the freedom to say anything you like, but there can still be consequences.” Is that what we want?

The woke mob may like the power they wield now, but what if the tide shifts and some other ideology has the power to destroy people because they don’t comply?

Do we need a global framework for data privacy?

First it was Europe’s GDPR, then came CCPA. And now, Gartner projects a lot more privacy regulations by 2023.

As someone who has had to work on compliance with these very poorly conceived laws, the prospect of a lot more of them is scary.

I’m in favor of the general goals of GDPR and CCPA, but the people who wrote those laws didn’t understand how things work, so companies are left scratching their heads, wondering what to do.

On the one hand, I tend to dislike globalist visions, but in something like this — that directly affects global commerce — it would be very nice if some competent people put together a workable framework that (1) protects consumers, (2) gives them the power to determine how their data is used, and (3) is possible for companies to comply with without too much expense.

Mexico or Canada?

I’m weary of the “if Trump wins the election I’m leaving the country” crowd, mostly because they’re usually people I’d love to see leave and they never do, but also because it’s just “virtue” signaling.

But seriously, I’m concerned what’s going to happen to this country in the next few years, no matter who wins. I don’t see any good outcomes.

If Trump wins again, the riots and unrest will get even worse. The leftist revolutionaries behind the riots are not going to say, “Oh, well, we lost” and give up. They’re going to try to burn everything down. They have a quasi pagan (and very stupid) idea that order spontaneously springs from chaos.

If Biden wins, our slide into a world controlled by intolerant woke extremists will get even worse.

Some commentators are saying we’re headed for civil war. I’m not sure how that would play out, but it would be ugly.

Conservatives sat idly by while ridiculous nonsense took root in the universities, and from there it has infected our entire culture. At this point, I think the only thing that can stop it is a religious revival. But there are very few religious leaders who are worth much. (On the other hand, it’s not that Luther was so great. He was just the match that lit the straw.)

If things go badly, it might be time to flee. But … where? Canada is more woke than here. Friends say there are parts of Mexico that are very nice.